Chrono Trigger
Reviewed by Kevin Ong
One of Squaresoft's nicer pieces of work, Chrono Trigger offers a lot of the same
old traditional platform role-playing games plus many new features that make
this one of the coolest and funnest role-playing games for the Super Nintendo. I
have played a lot of RPG's for the SNES, and I can say that this is in the top five
of my all-time favorite SNES RPG's (next to Final Fantasy III). Great story, good
characters, many side plots and side missions, and multiple endings make Chrono
Trigger the big RPG that it is. The other thing that makes this such a great game
is that Akira Toriyama has had a big role in the development of Chrono Trigger.
Mr. Akira Toriyama is probably best known for his extremely popular anime, the
Dragonball series.
Graphics 5 out of 5
The graphics for Chrono Trigger are killer. Most of the graphics are not computer
enhanced, 3d rendered garbage, but good old-fashioned hand-drawn sprites. Since
Akira Toriyama had a big role in creating this game, he had, no doubt, assisted in
the character sprite creations. The backgrounds are beautiful, nicely drawn, and
very clear. The magic graphics are very crisp and work well with the battle sequences.
All of the great graphics of the game just enhances the enjoyment of this great RPG,
unlike other RPG's where either sound or graphics is what the game is all about.
Music and Sound 4 out of 5
The music and sound of Chrono Trigger are very good. But the music cannot compare
to the music of Final Fantasy 3. Even though it can't compare to it doesn't mean that
it's no good at all. The music is quite excellent. It adds to the general atmosphere
and mood to the game. I enjoy most of the music, from it's bouncy-happy music of
the festival to the mysterious, strange music of Ozzie's Fort. I give the music of
this game mad props. The sound effects of Chrono Trigger are equally as enthralling
as the music. The SE's are ultra crisp and very realistic sounding. It makes you feel
like you're sort of in the game, and not just watching it.
Game Challenge 3 out of 5
Chrono Trigger has a rather semi-hard difficulty to the game. Most of the monsters
are quite easy, if you know what you're doing, and the bosses are, well, sort of hard,
but most are easy if you are either high leveled or have a good strategy. Although,
most of the game's fights are pretty easy, the last fight with the big head honcho
guy is rather hard, even with the right strategy, he still makes your fight quite
difficult. So, all in all with game challenge is that Chrono Trigger should offer no
ultra hard fight for seasoned gamers.
Game Play-Fun 5 out of 5
The gameplay of Chrono Trigger is ultra-fun! Besides the normal RPG style gameplay,
there are also many extra games that you can play. My favorite is the motorcycle
racing that's in the future. There are many more games then that, though. Game
play is fast-paced, but not so fast-paced that you cannot follow, and you have a
choice of either a real-time battle system, or a turn-based battle system, which
is good for a more in-your face, I'm the star-cowboy sort of person, or the more
strategic, I'm gonna figure out how I'm gonna kick your sorry little behind the
quickest kinda person.
Frustration
Well, sometimes, you just don't want to fight stuff, but it's always around the
corner, or sometimes, you would like to fight some things, but the monsters are
just not there. Some parts of the story line are confusing, so are some of the puzzle
clues, but other then that, it's all good.
Replayability 5 out of 5
There are many endings to Chrono Trigger. I have, maybe, seen around 4 of the many
endings that Chrono Trigger offers to the avid gamer. When you beat the game a
certain way, it offers a "New Game+" option, so you can gain 99 of every item in
the game, except for the few items that are part of the story, of course. There
are still many secrets (especially endings) that are only available if you replay
it on "New Game+" Square did a great thing with that "New Game+" thing, it's really
cool and gives a chance for those really nutty gamers who want to get 99 of each
item their chance to do just that, get 99 of every item!
Game Value 5 out of 5
I believe that this game is a worth-the price sort of buy. Even though I bought
Chrono Trigger for around $50, it's still all good, because I still play it, and it's
very fun to replay, over and over and over again. At any price under $100, Chrono
Trigger will give you your money's worth of gameplay and fun, I know it did for me.
Overall 4.5 out of 5
Great graphics, good sound, ultra-fun game-play, great replay value, and Akira
Toriyama make Chrono Trigger a must buy for any RPG game fanatic like me. Mad
crazy props goes out to Akira Toriyama for investing his time in a game such as
Chrono Trigger, and because of his invested time, a great game has been made. So,
all in all, if you haven't played Chrono Trigger yet, you should, because it's one of
the better, higher quality RPG's out there.